This invention relates to an apparatus for cooking, flipping, monogramming and discharging one or more pancakes, eggs or omelets.
The preparation and production of pancakes, eggs and omelets has been and continues to be, for the most part, labor intensive. Most food establishments buy dry batter flour mix in large bulky sacks which require heavy lifting and proper storage to deter contamination and/or degradation. Portioning and liquefying of the batter mix is generally accomplished manually. Eggs and omelets are usually cooked in individual pans so as to contain the eggs in a small space.
Pancakes and eggs or omelets are usually cooked to order so as to be at optimum taste and texture when served. Thus, a chef must be quick and agile in flipping the foods over to be cooked on the other side, and many an egg is ruined by inept flipping. Some chefs prefer different temperatures for pancake cooking than for egg and omelet cooking, all of these variables lead to waste in such cooking and improperly cooked dishes. Any mechanical assistance in this cooking art will find a ready acceptance by the restaurant business.
Regardless, of method chosen, upon reviewing industry-wide food server needs and the exceptionally high-profit potential of pancakes and eggs, one quickly recognizes the desirability of an apparatus capable of eliminating the usual fuss and mess of such food preparation.
Many inventors in the past have attempted to introduce an automatic pancake cooking apparatus, one of the first being Jaffe, U.S. Pat. No. 2,830,529.
In our U.S. Pat. No. 5,481,963, issued Jan. 9, 1996, there is disclosed a novel automatic pancake cooker which eliminates the prior art problem or partially cooking the batter by the heat of the cooker, and which provides a continuous supply of properly cooked pancakes having, if desired, an embossed message on the pancake.
It is an object of this invention to provide a novel nonautomatic pancake breakfast grill for preparing pancakes, eggs and omelets. It is another object of this invention to provide a superior apparatus which is easy to operate and which can provide pancakes or omelets with an embossed message thereon. This apparatus may be used in conjunction with a normal cooking or it may be a separate self-contained cooker. Still other objects will appear in the more detailed description found below.